Star hour with propeller shaft boots

[Go Fleiter]

My ever annoying attempts to work new original boots over the trunnion of the Ball- and- Trunnion- universal joint and through it´s housing- losing 4 of 5 due to damage- are over!

 

Yesterday my mechanic used a compressed air driven spreader to widen a modern universal boot so that it could slide over the the complete housing and it remained intact.

Ingenious! I never believed to get rid of that old boot- procedure!

I will soon also test my stock of original boots with this spreader.

Beeing otherwise useless now, I will risk their explosion :))

 

Having no copyright, I only can post this link, showing the procedure.

 

I`m sure, You may find one in the US for ~100 $

 

EDIT:Link is now working !

 

 

Greetings from Düsseldorf!

Go

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Go Fleiter

[Kilgore47]

Couldn't get the link to work.  I destroyed one while replacing the boots on the 47 P15.  And now the new boots are cracking.  I'll probably replace the drive shaft with one that has modern U joints the next time I have to fool with it.

[RobertKB]

Use leather boots. It can actually be done with the driveshaft on the car although easier on a bench. Well known Mopar suppliers sell them. 

[Young Ed]

I am using modern CV boots on my p15. They were much more flexible and I had no issues wiggling them through the housing 

[Sniper]

Not sure this helps, but I don't remember having an issue putting new boots on my 4 300, but that was back in the late 80's.  Just fed them thru the housing as per the FSM.  I also rebuilt the housings at the same time, so I may have pushed the boot thru with the pin out.  That would definitely make a difference.

[Sam Buchanan]

12 hours ago, RobertKB said:

Use leather boots. It can actually be done with the driveshaft on the car although easier on a bench. Well known Mopar suppliers sell them. 

I looked for leather boots a couple years ago and couldn't find any available. Do you have a current source? 

[Doug&Deb]

I actually boiled them first then lubed the heck out of them inside and out. I installed them as the manual says and had no problems. Maybe I got lucky lol.

[Go Fleiter]

 

[Go Fleiter]

Sorry, I was not able to put a text with teh video link:

 

Maybe this link helps.

My new universal boot are from Würth, a big provider of tech accessories here.

 

https://eshop.wuerth.de/Produktkategorien/Universal-Achsmanschette-Montageset-kurz/14016502050202.cyid/1401.cgid/de/DE/EUR/

[TodFitch]

6 hours ago, Go Fleiter said:

Sorry, I was not able to put a text with teh video link:

 

Maybe this link helps.

My new universal boot are from Würth, a big provider of tech accessories here.

 

https://eshop.wuerth.de/Produktkategorien/Universal-Achsmanschette-Montageset-kurz/14016502050202.cyid/1401.cgid/de/DE/EUR/

I wonder how much that specialty tool to expand the boot for installation costs. . .

 

Pretty neat technique if you have the tool.

[Sniper]

I found that tool on Ebay.  $168.72 + $46.90 Shipping.

 

Maybe if I had a shop doing this kind of work.

 

https://www.ebay.com/p/28031851809

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Sniper
added link

[Loren]

On 7/29/2022 at 6:08 AM, Sniper said:

Not sure this helps, but I don't remember having an issue putting new boots on my 4 300, but that was back in the late 80's.  Just fed them thru the housing as per the FSM.  I also rebuilt the housings at the same time, so I may have pushed the boot thru with the pin out.  That would definitely make a difference.

 

I haven't done that job but I scan the Shop Manual for entertainment purposes.

I did remember seeing the procedure for changing the boots. It is as Sniper describes. The manual offers a way to change the boot without removing the pin.

The way it was done 70+ years ago was to lube the boot "with clean grease" inside and out, push it over the pin and pull it through the housing.

Never having encountered "Clean Grease" I assume they meant un-used Grease. lol

Speaking of the Shop Manual, I often find them lacking in description. Since Chrysler had considerable continuity of design between the divisions, I have found there are nuances in the different manuals that help me understand the procedures better...so I have all the manuals around the years of the cars I like. If the Plymouth Manual doesn't have the photo or description I'll pull out the DeSoto manual or Dodge or Chrysler. They all are a little different.

[Sniper]

I dug out my 64 FSM, the grease it calls for is "universal joint lubricant".  One thing to remember is that there are, essentially, two sizes of ball and trunnion joints, large and small.  My 64 Chrysler used the large one, my 51 Plymouth the smaller of the two.  I wonder if the boot for the larger joint is sufficiently large enough to be easier to install?

 

I do need to do this job on my 65 Cuda.

 

 

[TodFitch]

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

I dug out my 64 FSM, the grease it calls for is "universal joint lubricant".  One thing to remember is that there are, essentially, two sizes of ball and trunnion joints, large and small.  My 64 Chrysler used the large one, my 51 Plymouth the smaller of the two.  I wonder if the boot for the larger joint is sufficiently large enough to be easier to install?

 

I do need to do this job on my 65 Cuda.

If you are finding driveshafts in swap meets with the ball and trunnion style U-joints you can find ones just a little smaller than what Plymouth used. Don’t know what the one I found was intended for, undoubtedly a non-Mopar make, but it fooled me out of some money. So I’d say there are at least two sizes used by Mopar but maybe more used by other companies.

 

My experience in following the the procedure for rubber boots found in later FSM manuals (only leather originally shipped on Plymouth for 1933) is that the boots I bought had apparently been sitting on the shelf for many decades. Even if I got one on without tearing, it would fail just sitting on the shop bench for the week it would take me to get around to putting the driveshaft on the car. If there were a source of newly manufactured boots sized for our cars I would consider the them a better option. In the meantime the leather boots I put on the car about 10 years ago are still in good shape.

[Young Ed]

2 hours ago, Sniper said:

I dug out my 64 FSM, the grease it calls for is "universal joint lubricant".  One thing to remember is that there are, essentially, two sizes of ball and trunnion joints, large and small.  My 64 Chrysler used the large one, my 51 Plymouth the smaller of the two.  I wonder if the boot for the larger joint is sufficiently large enough to be easier to install?

 

I do need to do this job on my 65 Cuda.

 

 

Interesting my 64 belvedere has one at the trans end but the 65s have conventional u joints. A bodies different?

[Sniper]

66 is when they went to u joints front and rear, except for stick C bodies.  66 was the last year for those.

 

As for the NOS boots deteriorating, very true.  I redid mine in 89, so they weren't nearly as old.  But just about anything NOS and rubber for our stuff has the same issues. 

 

 

[Sam Buchanan]

I recently replaced a boot that I had purchased new a couple years ago. It had split in the two years since installation but the old boot, time unknown, that I had repaired with silicone self-healing tape is still good.

 

I lubed everything up and hoped I could finesses the new boot over the pin and through the housing without damaging it. Man......this is like delivering a baby in reverse! I resisted the temptation to use pry tools that could damage the (Chinese?) boot and eventually it popped into place. What an ordeal. We'll see how it holds up but really wish somebody still offered the leather boots.

[Go Fleiter]

Well, the name of the spreader seems to be bootgun.

Here is one for 127 $ in England:

https://www.bhtoolsandequipment.com/product-page/bootgun-air-operated-cv-boot-pack-with-4-boots

 

This one is 94 € in Germany, it is difficult here to get the results filtered for USA only!

https://www.fradashop.de/kfz-werkstatt-hebebuehnen/werkzeuge-kfz/manschettenspreizer

 

You should find one around 100 $ in the USA and universal boots to fit Your car!

Greetings from Düsseldorf!

Go!

Edited July 31, 2022 by Go Fleiter